Posted by Matthew Woodfield on Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Under: Top Tips

I was asked a few weeks ago what to do if
you can't complete a sport route and realised that there are so many options
that it would be worthwriting them down. There are lots of reasons
why you might not be able to finish a route, thread the lower off and retrieve your
quickdraws, it might be that its too hard, too wet or too late.

Firstly – no one likes leaving their gear behind, but it’s a small price to pay for getting down safely. None of your gear is worth as much as you,and the cost to replace it all can easily be made back the next day you go to
work, and you can go to work because you’re not broken.

There are a
few easy options to solve the problem that are worth trying first:

·Get
a friend to finish the route for you.

·Make
a new friend at the crag who can finish your route.

·Climb
an easier route to one side then swing in when being lowered to get back your
gear.

·Leave
the highest ‘draw in place and come back the next day to finish the job

If none of
these work for you then there is a way to ”aid” your way up to the lower off;
clip yourself to the top ‘draw with your cowstail, then have a clipstick passed
up to you. Using the clipstick, clip the highest bolt you can reach then pull
your way up the rope, this is much easier if your belayer weights the rope when
you pull down, repeat this until you reach the top.

If that
doesn’t work for you then you can just sacrifice a bit of gear to lower off and
retrieve the rest. It doesn’t have to be a whole draw, you can just use a
single krab, but its even safer and cheaper use a Mallion
(“may-on”) Rapide. Make sure its big enough to get your rope through and
small enough to fit in a hanger alongside a ‘draw.

There is
also the option to lower off from the bolt so long as it has a rounded profile
and no sharp edges, as well as being big enough to thread your rope through
whilst having a ‘draw clipped in. Large staples work well for this technique,
but expansion bolt hangers would destroy your rope (!) and modern glue-ins are
likely to be too small.

Lots of the
above solutions require you to be lowered off the route by a single bolt while
stripping the rest of the gear, if you are not 100% about the condition of the
bolt you are to lower off from Petzl have an ingenious
technique for staying safe on the way down.